The Road to The Perfect Housewife
by Tamako-Chama
Summary: Princess Ara has a dream. A big unachievable dream. To be the best housewife! But she meets a man that might make that dream possible...
1. Chapter 1

A year has passed since the publishing of my first story! So much time! I never knew I will continue writing here for such a long time! To all the people who have supported me through that year – THANK YOU! Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement. I really appreciate it!

Now here's a one-shot to celebrate the anniversary!

As always I'm using DC and YR and as always their age is not the official one!

 _IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_

Once upon a time in a far, far away land lived a princess. She had beautiful hair like the night and beautiful eyes like the sun. She was admired by all her people. But the princess disliked being a princess. Or no… She hated being a princess. She had a dream. A big, impossible dream. To be the perfect housewife! But sadly princess Ara had no husband. And being a princess was taking all of her time. She had no time to practice cooking and cleaning! And she heard a rumor that she is getting married! How? Ara was such a disgrace to the housewives! She couldn't accept she is unprepared and she has to meet her husband. So princess Ara ran away. But she was going to come back. Come back as the perfect housewife! She ran through hills and fields. She ran through rivers and deserts. Day and night princess Ara was running. It was also part of her training! A good housewife had to be fast! Even when wearing a dress half her weight and high heels. It was her duty to run fast and to fast whatever her husband wanted from her. And also she had to find a place to stay.

Princess Ara got to the City of Water – Hamel. Finally! Water! Running gets you thirsty! She ran to the first fountain and started drinking water. A person came near her.

"You're dressed in such an expensive dress yet you lack all the good qualities of a rich woman." Said a boy with ocean blue eyes and blonde hair… The hair had something like animal ears! Ara ignored what he said and went to him to touch his hair.

"Don't touch me." He said as he pushed away her hand.

"Sorry…"

"I see you're not from around here. That reaction is not one of a Hamel citizen."

"I am not."

"I understand. But please Miss refrain from drinking the fountain's water."

"I was thirsty…"

"That doesn't explain your behavior."

"Was I a bad girl?" She looked at him with puppy eyes. He sighed.

"You were a woman with bad manners." Wait… Bad manners… That is not a thing that the perfect housewife has! The perfect housewife is kind and her manners are very good! Oh no… She has just started her Housewife Training Camp and she already did such a big mistake… Ara started crying.

"Miss? What's wrong? Did I offend you?" She suddenly stopped crying. She had an idea.

"Be my housewife mentor!"

"Mentor? Housewife?"

"I am getting married soon! And I have a dream… To be the perfect housewife! So I ran away to train! But I am not doing good. But! If I have you as my teacher I'm sure I will learn to be the perfect housewife!"

"I think you're mistaken. I'm a man."

"Of course I knew that! You're manly!" He turned his head away. It was the first time someone has told him that. They always told him he's girly. Hearing these words made him happy.

"You think so?"

"Yep!"

"Okay. I'll help you with what I can." She jumped on him to hug him but ended up falling.

"Eh? I didn't feel the hit."

"That's because you fell on me."

"I'm so sorry…"

"Okay. Lesson one – Don't jump on people."

"But… I was not trying to jump on you…"

"What were you trying to do then?"

"I was trying to hug you."

"Okay… Then – When you're trying to hug someone do it gently. You want to hug them not kill them. This is lesson one."

"Um… How?" He sighed and got close to Ara. He pulled her close and wrapped his hands around her. Ara blushed.

"Is this the right way to do it?" She asked

"Yes. Use just the right amount of power. Maybe a bit less for you since you're a girl."

"This is kind of embarrassing."

"I know."

"Am I supposed to hug everyone like this? I don't think I will be able to… It really is embarrassing."

"No. I'm training you to be a good wife. So you'll hug your husband."

"Okay. Isn't it weird to hug me? We just met."

"I'm just showing you. And wasn't it weird when you asked me to be your mentor?"

"Maybe…" Ara giggled. They stayed in silence for a while. Ara liked this hug. She never had such a warm hug. Even her cheeks got red. A weird thing she never felt started building up in her. Then she spoke.

"Your name… I want to know."

"Chung Seiker. May I know your name?"

"Ara Haan." Chung smiled but she didn't see.

"A princess then?"

"You know my name?"

"Yes. I know the names of all the kings, queens, princes and princesses."

"Impressive. But don't you now feel a bit respect towards me?"

"Hm… We're on my territory. So I'm still greater." He said and laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Chung said and continued pressing her against his chest. Silence fell upon them again. She started listening to his heartbeat. So calm – unlike her heart that was beating twice faster and louder than usual. Faster than it was when she was running.

"I guess this is enough for you to learn." Chung said and released her.

"Thank you for teaching me!"

"Okay. Now tell me where you're staying at so I can take you home. It's getting late."

"Um…" Ara looked down.

"You don't have a place to stay at, right?" She nodded.

"Then… You can come with me. I'll make an exception because you're a princess."

"Where are we going?"

"To my home." This ringed an alarm in Ara's head. A memory of when she was young came to her.

 _Ara was five and she was sitting in her mother's lap._

" _Listen Ara… You must never follow strangers to their homes. It's dangerous. Understood?" Ara smiled._

" _Yes mommy!"_

Such a cute memory. It was so nice to have such memories. So Ara started thinking about how good is it to have flashbacks of your childhood.

"We're almost there." Chung said. Wait… She was supposed to listen to her mother's advice! And she followed that person without even knowing him. And he wasn't even dragging her. Ara silently walked towards danger! She had to get away.

Just when Ara saw a good bush to hide in she remembered – if she ran she will loose her teacher.

"I'm sorry mother…" She whispered and continued following Chung. He took her to the castle and led her in.

"This is where you live? It's big!" She said.

"Don't you live in a castle too?"

"Yes I do."

"Then why are you so surprised?"

"It's way bigger than our castle. And we're the royal family!"

"Well… We are the royal family too."

"What?"

"I'm the prince of Hamel. I thought you knew that."

"No."

"Then… I guess we should start with this…" He led her to a big room with books. The library. "Lesson two - A good wife should be well educated. She should be able to have a good conversation with her husband. So you should now start reading."

"Okay!" If it was to become the perfect housewife she would do anything. Ara got a book. Chung just shook his head and smiled. She took a picture book. She was seated on the ground and the picture book was in her lap. He sat on a chair near her and started looking at her. He looked at the changing emotions on her face. Happiness… worry… sadness… She switched through emotions as if she was pressing buttons. At the end of the book she smiled.

"I read it!"

"Oh really?"

"What? You didn't see me reading? And I read for thirty minutes!"

"I saw you, I saw you."

"It was a good book!"

"I really think it's a good book too. The Adventures of the Little Kitten – such a nice way to name it."

"Right? But look -" She took the picture book and showed him a page. "The little kitten also found a person to teach it! Like I found you!"

"But that teacher kitten has glasses and a white beard. I'm not that old."

"Really? Don't you have a white beard?"

"As you can see I don't have one."

"Liar." She touched his chin. "There is a big white beard all the way to the ground!"

"Yes. I'm old. I'm more than a hundred years old. Are you happy now?"

"No. I somehow don't like it." He laughed.

"Then tell me how would you like it?"

"Um… Maybe if you were my age… Or something like that…" She looked away with a small blush on her cheeks.

"And why would you want that?"

"Um… I don't know… I just do…"

"Should I tell you how old I am?"

"I don't want to hear it…"

"Okay then." He gave her a small piece of paper. "If you don't want to hear write how old you are. And I will write how old I am." He actually wanted to know her age. He was starting to get interested in her. Well he had a guess – she was no older than 17. There was no way she would still be unmarried and older. And honestly she was way too childish to be older. The thing written made him a bit surprised. 19. But still she was in her "teen" years at least. He wondered why was she getting married now. It was not very likely that there were no people wanting to marry her. She was quite beautiful. But of course he was not one to talk as he was also unmarried. And older. But he was a man. It was not that important. He could get married at forty to a young girl if he wants to. But that would be weird.

"So you're twenty-one? Old man."

"Okay. I'm an old man."

"No…"

"Again the same thing? Tell me what do you want me to be." He pulled her a bit closer to him. Then he heard the door open and he quickly released Ara. She went to read more picture books a bit further away then she was sitting before. Chung sighed and looked who walked in. It was his father.

"Hello, Father."

"Chung… You're here again?"

"As you can see I am here."

"What am I going to do with you… Go out! Have fun! Come on! You're wasting your youth! When I was your age-" He said and Chung cut him off.

"Yes, yes. You were doing something every night."

"That's right. You should too! Otherwise you'll never get a wife."

"Father… It doesn't concern you." His father laughed.

"There needs to be a hair to the throne. And… I'm your father after all. Of course it concerns me."

"Okay. But can we please not talk about my life in front of other people? We'll talk about it later."

"Other people?"

"Do you really not see her?"

"Her? A woman?" Chung pointed towards Ara.

"Yes. A woman." Ara put down the picture book and got up

"Hello! My name is-"

"Ara Haan. Princes of Sander." Said Chung's father, cutting her off.

"That's right! Does everybody here know me? Am I some sort of a famous person here?" Chung's father ignored her and started whispering to Chung.

"Good one son!"

"How do you know her?"

"Well… I was starting to get very worried about you… So I was just looking at suitable princesses… This one looked the most fitting… So I remembered her name."

"Father!"

"Don't worry! I promised I won't arrange your marriage."

"Then?" Chung had an angry aura around him.

"I was planning to send you to Sander as a guest and to arrange your meeting with her. I was sure you will like her. But… You did well without my help! I'm proud my boy! To get such a nice girl on your own! When will the wedding be?"

"There will be no wedding Father. You got it all wrong. I met her today. It is already arranged for her to marry someone."

"Then you just have to fight and take her away!" He did a thumbs up and walked out of the library. Then he said loudly so Chung can hear him:

"If you don't go out I'll burn all the books in that library!"

"You won't dare!"

"You know I will!"

"It's night!"

"Then it's better!"

"Okay I'll go out!"

"With her!"

"Alright! I'll take her."

"Have fun!"

"You know I won't!"

"You never know!"

 _IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_

As this is getting long and if I write more it is going to be way after the actual day so I'll make this a two-shot.

Thank you for reading


	2. Chapter 2

Chung and Ara were walking outside. It surprised Chung how many people were out even though it was late. But still it felt weird to go out of the castle like that. All the citizens he walked by stopped to bow to him. The whole Hamel royal family was very popular with the people.

"I see everyone likes you." Ara said.

"Well my family helped Hamel regain what it used to be. Before we returned it was just ruins. But we rebuilt it."

"My family hasn't done anything that special…"

"But the people still like you." Ara nodded. "And I think that maintaining peace within your borders is quite a thing, especially with the wars that were going on."

"It's all over now."

"Yes." Talking about the wars on a "date". Way to go Chung.

"Is there somewhere you would like to go?" He asked.

"I guess… Somewhere quiet. Where you can teach me how to be a good housewife!" Ara was determined to go out of Hamel as a perfect housewife.

"Alright. Though I have absolutely no idea what I can teach you outside. If we were inside I could at least teach you to cook… Wait. Can you cook?"

"Uh… Is putting ice cream in a bowl cooking? Because I'm pretty good at that. It splashes out only one out of five times!" She said proudly.

"I see you really do need cooking lessons. Also do you like ice cream?"

"Yes! A lot! Though it's pretty hard to get in Sander. And between the two flavors I think I like the vanilla one more. Though I love the chocolate one too."

"In Hamel we have all kinds of ice cream. Much more than two flavors. It's like the capital of ice cream. Wait for a moment." Ara stopped walking and he went away. He returned after a few minutes with two ice creams. He gave her one of it.

"It is strawberry flavor. I think you would like it." She tasted it.

"It's amazing! Thank you so much!" She almost jumped on him to hug him.

"Wait. If you do that your ice cream will fall. Also this is not how a good wife hugs, remember?"

"Right…" She looked a bit sad she did a mistake. And it was on her first lesson! She had heard that to learn something you must know the basics. And a mistake on the first lesson… Unforgivable! She tried making things right by hugging him the way he showed her and she tried to keep her ice cream away from him so it doesn't stain his clothes.

"Good. Very good. You're doing it right. But…" He gently pushed her away. "I am not your husband. So you shouldn't hug me like that. You said it is only for him." For the first time in her life mentioning her future husband made her feel very bad. "Let's continue walking."

The place where Chung brought her was beautiful. There was green grass and a clean lake, reflecting the moon's shine.

"Do you like the place?" He asked.

"It's amazing! I've never been to a more beautiful place!" Chung smiled.

"Alright! I'm ready for my lessons!" She said as she ate the last part of her ice cream. Chung chuckled lightly when seeing her ice cream covered face.

"Lesson three – A good wife must know how to eat properly. You have ice cream all over your face."

"Eh?" She took out a napkin. "Where is it."

"It's everywhere. Let me." He took it from her hands and started wiping her face. "I feel like I'm wiping the face of a baby." He laughed.

"I'm not a baby!" She didn't like being called a baby by him.

"But you eat like one."

"But I'm a grown woman!"

"Hm… A girl is more correct."

"No! I am a woman! I am going to get married!"

"Alright, alright."

"And look! I wear high heels!" She showed her feet to him. "Am I not a woman?"

"And I've heard people say my body is mature! So I'm a woman."

"You're a woman." He said as he continued his soft laugh. That laugh made her heart beat faster.

They continued talking for hours. Even though it was so late none of them felt like sleeping. With every word they were getting more and more drawn to each other.

"Ara… Do you have any idea who your husband might be?" He didn't exactly know why he was asking this questions. "Has some prince been to the palace recently? He might have been there to arrange things about the marriage."

"Hm… I think a few princes came the last months. But I have no idea where they were from." They were silent for a while. Then she spoke.

"I would like to know my husband too… It feels so weird to don't even know who the person you're going to devote the rest of your life. It is just so… wrong."

"I thought you were happy about it."

"Yes I am… but sometimes, just sometimes, I think maybe I would be happier if I loved the person. If I wanted him to be my husband."

"Is there someone back in Sander that you love?"

"I love my family. I love all the people of Sander. But there is no one I have special feelings for there. Is there a girl you like?"

"No. Sometimes I think I'll probably die alone. I asked my father to not arrange my marriage and let me choose a wife on my own. He agreed. And that is why I still don't have a wife. There is just no girl that attracts me here. I just want to feel… drawn to her. I want to feel something special. I don't want to just marry someone random and hope I will start loving them one day."

"So you're looking for love at first sight?"

"I think this is the only kind of love out there. If you don't get drawn to the person right from the start I don't think anything could happen between you. If right from the start you don't just want to know more about them it is not real. The kind of love all nobles have is just forced love."

"I guess I'll have forced love too…" She looked sad.

"Oh I'm sorry for talking like that…"

"But maybe you're right… What if I never learn to love him?"

"You will, I am sure. You are a very loving and kind girl."

"But what if… I think I felt that "attraction" with someone else and I don't think I will ever be able to forget him?"

"Well then you should tell him. Maybe together you can figure out something. Because I'm sure he would too be attracted to a beautiful girl like you." Slowly they were getting closer. They shared a long kiss.

"I like you." He whispered softly in her ear.

"I like you too…"

"Marry me." He asked with that same whisper.

"But…" She looked away.

"We will go talk to your parents. We will do everything and make it possible. Don't think about that. Just tell me… Do you want it?"

"Yes I do! Of course I do!"

"Then it will be possible. I won't let you go." He smiled and kissed her again.

The next day they were preparing to go to Sander to talk to her father. Just as they were getting on the carriage Chung's father passed by them with a weird, satisfied smile on his face.

"I told you you'll have fun." He said and passed by them. Chung just smiled.

When they entered Sander all the people who saw princess Ara stopped walking and bowed.

"I see you really are popular too." Ara smiled.

"I guess I am. It's good to be back."

Chung thought they would probably have to wait to meet the King of Sander. But that was not the case. He wanted to see them right now. Well that was understandable when Chung thought about it – Ara had pretty much ran away from home. But it made the time Chung could figure out what to say to him less.

"Ara! Where were you?" The king asked.

"Well I wanted to train being a housewife… And I went to Hamel… Where I met him…"

"My name is Chung Seiker. The prince of Hamel." Her father looked quite surprised to see him in Sander.

"What brings you here?"

"I am here to ask you to give me your daughter's hand! I know she is promised to someone else, but I truly love her and I know she loves me too. I could make her happier than any other man. And I know every parent cares for his child's happiness. And I don't think the other prince is someone more suitable! My country is right now the most prospering country! And an alliance between the Water Country and the Desert Country would be good as we are strong allies that also would prefer to keep our country peaceful. I can assure you your daughter will miss nothing if you give her to me. I know you can't just cancel the engagement but… I love her!" The king looked confused.

"Engagement? To who?"

"…What? You mean she does not have an arranged husband?"

"No. I never did something like that."

"But Ara said…"

"Ara where did you hear that?" Her father asked.

"Well… I heard two maids talking that I would probably get married soon…" Chung covered his face with his hand. There was no arranged marriage…

"Anyway… Are you serious about what you just said?" Chung removed his hand.

"Yes I am. I really love your daughter and would like to take her as my wife."

"…Alright." He agreed!

After six months a wedding was held. It was huge. And it was beautiful. Very beautiful.

"You may now kiss the bride." Said the priest. Chung kissed her. They were now married. Then she jumped on him to hug him. There were things that would never change. But it was alright. Because Chung loved her exactly because of those things.


End file.
